Harajuku

Harajuku is a small city district between Shibuya and Shinjuku in Tokyo, Japan, famously considered the youth fashion center of Japan.

The area is popular with fashion-conscious teenagers, who can be found congregating around the pedestrian railway overpass connecting the Harajuku train station to the Meiji Shrine. The alley known as Takeshita Street is also favorite gathering place for young Japanese who like to dress in outrageous styles and relish in drawing attention to themselves in an effort to start the next fashion trend.

The district is known internationally as a focus for Japanese youth fashion. Shopping and dining options include many small, youth oriented, boutiques and cafés, but the neighborhood also attracts many larger international fashion stores with high-end luxury merchandisers extensively represented along Omotesando boulevard.

Gallery

Other Appearances

Love Hina

In Love Hina, Kanako Urashima dresses Motoko Aoyama in Gothic attire and abandons her in Harajuku until Keitaro runs across her and takes Motoko to a café before offering to tutor her to help improve her test scores.

Trivia

Harajuku has a reputation as a gathering place for fans and aficionados of Japanese street fashion and associated subcultures.

One of the first fashion cultures to arise in Harajuku was the Takenoko-zoku (Bamboo Shoot Tribe) groups in the late 1970's.

Harajuku station was the main station for the Olympic village during the 1964 Tokyo Olympic games, with the village itself located where Yoyogi park is now (having been redeveloped in 1967).